'God is my lawyer': offender

NO need for a lawyer — a woman in custody on stalking charges said she was represented by God in Gympie Magistrates Court yesterday.

Holding her bible, Denise Egan said she accepted the charges against her but told the court the person who committed the offences was dead.

“I’m a born again Christian now and I’m being represented by the Lord today,” she told the court.

Even her court-appointed solicitor Corey Jenkins had to admit he couldn’t match that kind of representation and stood down from the matter.

Egan, 48, went on tell the court that “the Lord” wanted her to read a passage from the Bible to the magistrate.

“And the Lord has a sense of humour Your Honour. Up until yesterday I thought I had to sing it to you,” she said and added with a laugh that it may not have worked in her favour.

Currently serving prison terms for break and enter, theft and wilful damage charges committed at Grasstree Beach near Mackay, Egan appeared in the court dock to deal with fresh charges of stalking, obstructing police and committing a public nuisance at a caravan park in Gympie during February and January this year.

The court heard Egan and her son (who pleaded guilty and is serving time for stalking) were staying at a caravan park when they began to harass a couple staying at a site near them.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Lisa Manns said the verbal abuse and threats got so bad that a complaint was made to police and when the son threatened to torch the couple’s van, the female complainant was so afraid she had a turn and the Gympie Ambulance was called.

This caused a disturbance at the caravan park and Egan had to be restrained when she tried to stop officers from arresting her son. She refused to get in the back of the police van and struggled with officers.

“(Egan’s son) received six months in prison on each stalking charge and in this case, it is prosecution’s submission that the defendant is convicted and sentenced to nine months to serve at least two months before being released on parole,” Snr Const Manns said.

“(Egan) was the main aggressor...a deterrent should be the main factor in sentencing to prevent further acts of stalking.

“We heard (Egan) made amends with a higher power for the offences committed but perhaps a more earthly intervention would assist in keeping the defendant on the straight and narrow.”

Egan said “the Lord” wanted her to remind the magistrate of the state-of-mind she was in at the time and opened up the Bible at a random passage and read at length from the Book of Psalms.

Mrs Baldwin stopped her mid-way and said it was good to see Egan showed genuine remorse and was trying to change her ways but she needed to stick to the law not just the 10 commandments.

Egan was convicted and sentenced to six months to serve two months and with probation of 12 months when released for the two stalking charges, and was sentenced one month in prison wholly suspended for two years for assault and obstructing police and was fined $200 for creating a public nuisance.